Operating Sessions

Thought I’d share with you all my first real operating experience on my layout.  I completed my grain terminal sidings so I thought I’d experiment with operating the grain terminal.

I originally had 4 sidings that was my interchange yard; I have now reclassified the yard to the following. The first road now has the two grain terminal sidings leading off it so the rear of this siding is used as a transfer road. The next road now becomes the arrival road for loaded grain cars. The third road is the departure road for empty hoppers and the fourth road is the through road that will extend to a planned intermodal facility.

This is how I have been operating the terminal:

Loaded hoppers (up too 20 cars long) are backed into the arrival road and the mainline locomotive uncoupled and either dispatched to the engine yard or coupled to empty hoppers standing in the departure road. 

The hoppers in the arrival road are then broken up into strings of 10 hoppers where a SW1200 leads the first group out of the arrival road and backs into the grain terminal road for unloading. 

The SW1200 then uncouples from the grain terminal hoppers and returns to the arrival road for the second string of loaded hoppers and backs them into the second grain terminal road.

The arrival road is now clear to receive another loaded grain train. In the mean time the train in the departure road is preparing to depart to the mainline for loading of more grain at the designated grain silo.

Once the loaded hopper cars have unloaded  in the grain terminal road they are shunted to the departure road for classification. If another train arrives it is unloaded then stored in the transfer road until the departure road is cleared.